The Ocean's Comfort
by Nature9000
Summary: Frustrated with the way Hollywood Arts has changed her family. Unneeded and unloved, Trina runs away to the last place she felt she belonged. When her sister runs away, scared and alone, Tori seeks her sister. Can the sister's bond possibly be repaired?


The Ocean's Comfort

Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious

A/N: Observing the episodes when they air, the recent episode where Trina once more gets turned down by a guy, it gives me this idea of a oneshot. Enjoy.

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><p>-OCEAN BREEZE-<p>

Trina through the guitar from the house and screamed at Robbie and Cat, they _still_ hadn't left. "Get out of my house!" She slapped her hand through the air, shoving her finger towards the door. The two looked at her, hurt by her anger, but did she care? No. They weren't her friends, they were _Tori's_ friends. None of Tori's friends gave a damn about her, so why should she give a damn about them? "What are you two waiting for?" She hissed her words and narrowed her glare upon them. "I _will_ personally throw you out if you don't leave in the next few seconds. Am I _clear_? I'm not _stuttering_, am I?"

"N-No," Cat whimpered. The redhead grabbed Robbie's wrist and pulled him from the house. Trina slammed the door shut after them and threw her hands to her hair. A scream from deep in her chest bellowed and shook the very foundations of the house, surely the neighbors would wake and wonder what was going on. It wasn't quite midnight yet, closer to ten, her sister was still out at the restaurant on that 'date' that Sikowitz forced her to be on with Jade.

Realizing this, she lowered her hands and scoffed. Her eyes moved to the side and her fists clenched tight. Even Tori was out, sure it wasn't a date, it was just something Sikowitz was forcing the two to do for a play, but what it represented infuriated her to the core. Once more her sister was out leading a perfect life that everyone enjoyed. Hell, judging by a text given by her sister, some guys were currently hitting on Tori. Why? Guys _never_ hit on her! They screwed her over, that's what they did.

What did she ever do? Yeah, she might be a little crazy on the outside, but that was just a goddamn façade she used to escape her sister's shadow. _"Seriously. Why am I in _her_ shadow? Isn't usually the younger sibling stuck in the shadow of the older sibling?" _She loved her sister to death, she could never deny that, and she would never want anything to happen to her, but sometimes she just couldn't help but be enraged whenever Tori shined so brightly. Even her own parents favored Tori over her! Tori was the favorite, she was the one that was loved, she was everything while Trina was _nothing!_ Tori had the boys flocking to her. Boys flocked away from Trina.

What was it her dad said the other day? _When you go to college, you're going far away, right?_ Her breath clenched in her throat and her eyes started to water. Even then, Beck made her believe that he actually might have thought about her, but he didn't, he was fooling her. Then there was Andre and Robbie, everyone was 'fighting' over her, but it was fake. There was the friends' constant remarks that no one liked her, and did Tori _ever_ tell them to stop? 'Hey guys, that's still my sister, show some respect', but that never came out of her mouth. She just went along with whatever her friends said.

What happened to the bond they had? Before either of them lived in each other's shadow? Before Tori became so nauseatingly perfect, before the 'accidental' shining got her into Hollywood Arts and everything just went to her head, what happened to that girl that used to look up to her older sister with admiration? Now she just looked down on her with _shame_. Even her parents seemed ashamed of her! _Make it Shine_, indeed! God how she loathed that song, it was the symbol of everything she hated about Hollywood Arts. It stole her sister away from her.

A tear ran down her cheek, her surroundings seemed to vanish. She heard her father's voice, he was standing in the doorway near the kitchen, gazing at her with concern. Faux concern, she was sure. "Trina? Are you okay? I thought you were going out on your date?" Hollywood Arts changed _everything_, it changed _everyone_. Tori, their father, their mother. God. What happened to those monthly picnics they would take to Point Dome State Beach, just outside of Malibu? They hadn't gone since Tori started going to Hollywood Arts, she just stopped being interested. It had been a regular thing since Trina was five, Tori was four.

God she missed the smell of the ocean waters, the feel of the warm sand between her toes. She craved that rush of the salty sweet air, the sound of those beautiful waves. How long had it been since they'd gone? Tori had been at Hollywood Arts for what, near two years now? Has it really been nearly two years since they last went? "Trina?" Her father continued trying to talk to her, shaking her thoughts. She moved her eyes to him and slowly began moving towards the stairs. "Trina, what happened to your date?"

"He cancelled the date, didn't even bother to tell me." No, he sent Robbie and Cat after her. Well, screw him. Screw all the boys out there. Even at Hollywood Arts, some boys would come to her while she was eating lunch and start talking to her, then they would ask for _Tori's_ phone number. _Tori's sister_, that's who she was, all she was. She made her way up the stairs, stopping once she reached the top. She glanced back and watched, disheartened, as her father just walked back to his room.

Maybe he said something to her, she didn't know, she didn't care. With tears staining her cheeks, she rushed to her room and threw herself to her bed. She screamed into her pillow and started to sob. The pillow tasted of salty tears, both old and fresh. Every night, it seemed, she cried herself to sleep. Tori would be right across the hall, so she had to remain quiet so as not to wake her sister.

As she opened her eyes, she saw that white stuffed Gingham Dog, lying on the other side of her bed, staring at her with those marble like eyes. She smiled sadly and reached over, pulling her dog towards her. "Snowflake…you never change…" She nestled the stuffed dog to her chest and put her face to its head, letting her tears run down upon it. This dog she had since she was just a baby, her grandmother, the one that passed away a year ago, had been the one to give it to her. This dog, this silent listener, knew all of her secrets. It was the very thing that comforted her. "My date cancelled, snowflake…another boy to hate me, while Tori's out being hit on by guys. Even if they sound annoying…Daddy wants me to go far away when I go to college in the fall...I don't understand why everyone hates me. Even when I try to spend time with Tori, she doesn't want to because her friends are around."

As she lay there, letting her tears run down, she stared absently at the wall in front of her. Some amount of time passed, she didn't really know how much time had gone by, she hadn't thought about it. She knew she wasn't crazy, she wasn't insane, she just wanted what she used to love. Boys didn't matter, she just wanted to stop living in her little sister's shadow. She wanted her sister to love her again, to look up to her. She used to be a Daddy's Girl, when she was a kid, her dad was the one that always had her around. Tori was their mom's follower. She wiped away a tear and let her mind wander, just following it wherever it went.

_The rush of the sea filled air blew through the hair of Six-year old Trina Vega as she sat on her father's shoulders. David was holding onto her ankles and gazing out as the waves of the water roared with the wind. She threw her hands into the air and laughed. David lifted his head to the clear blue sky and smiled as his wife walked next to him, holding onto Tori's hand beside her. "It's such beautiful weather, isn't it?" David asked in his usual soft, melodious voice. Holly's lips lifted into a smile as Tori hugged her leg._

_ "Mommy, I want to play with Tri-Tri!" Tori declared. Trina looked down at her and grinned._

_ "Look at me Tori! I'm really high!" _

_ "Come down here Tri-Tri! I want to play!"_

_ "Okay! Daddy, please put me down, I want to be with Tori." Their father chuckled and did as asked. He put his arm around Holly's shoulder and watched as their kids ran off together. _

_ After a while of playing, the girls were exhausted and sitting on the edge of the beach, letting the cool water wash over their feet. Tori's head was on Trina's shoulder and her breathing was fast, as one usually is after a playful run. "I hope we can come here f'rever, Tri-Tri. Isn't it where Daddy met Mommy?"_

_ "Maybe, I think they married further up the beach." _

_ "Do you think we might be happy like mommy and daddy one day with a boy? Boys don't seem all that great to me…" Tori's face twisted in disgust and Trina laughed, they were far too young to worry about boys, but there were actually people in their school that evidently dating. _

_ "I just hope we never stop coming here…I mean like Mommy and Daddy said, it's 'tradition'."_

_ "What does that mean?"_

_ "I think it's like something someone does regularly. It means a lot to the family." They became a family here, truthfully. Their grandmother lived in Malibu, so their grandparents came down to this beach all the time growing up, she took her kids to this beach all throughout their lives, and now their dad brought them here all the time. "Hey Tori, can you promise me something?"_

_ "What?"_

_ "When we grow up…even in college, even if it's just you and me, let's never stop coming here. When we have families of our own, let's come here together." Tori slowly nodded her head and moved her hand over to her sister's, beaming brightly._

_ "I promise."_

Trina slowly sat up in her bed, snowflake fell off onto the floor. She wiped her eyes with her arm and gazed towards her bedroom window. That promise, they made every year. While they went every month, it was every year in that particular month that they made that promise. Even when their trips started lessening to every two months, every three months, they kept that promise. Then one day, Tori didn't want to go because she had some project she wanted to do with Andre and her 'friends'. The promise was forgotten. Doubtful, Tori would even remember such a 'menial' thing to her. Fuck it, that beach was _everything_ to her!

Maybe it meant nothing to Tori, maybe it meant so little to her parents, as little as she meant to them, but it was where they were a family once. Maybe, just maybe, they could have that again. If it wasn't too much to ask for.

Did they care? No one ever gave her that chance, no one ever gave her a chance to show them how she actually was, the better side of her. Her sister didn't even give her a chance anymore, she was too busy caring about Hollywood Arts and her friends to even worry about her. Would anyone even care if she were gone? Would they miss her?

Doubtful. She wasn't one to take her own life, but she was one to remove herself from the problem. If she was the problem, then so be it. She reached over to the oak end table next to her bed and flipped on the yellow lamp in the center. She opened the drawer of the table and removed a journal. As she opened it up, she slowly flipped through the many pages she'd written over the years, her own personal diary. These innermost personal thoughts, they weren't as happy as they used to be when she was younger, and why should they be?

How many boys had she written about in here, Beck included, that led her on just to mess with her emotions? How many boys in here had she written about that just dumped her, called her insane or fat, or even asked her about her own _sister_. Too many to count. She was over it, she was over all of them. If there wasn't a single person in this world that would ever give her a chance to let her voice be heard, to let her be herself instead of 'Tori's crazy sister', then fine. She wouldn't _burden_ them again!

After she managed to make it to a blank page, she pulled her pen from the spiral binding and started writing down her feelings. Did it matter if anyone saw this? No.

_Not that anyone will care when, and if you see this. After all, I'm just the crazy one, right? I'll never be perfect, no one will ever like me, I'll never get a boyfriend as they won't hit on me, Tori's friends will never give a shit about me. All I am is 'Tori's Sister'. Even Dad doesn't want me around anymore…Didn't I used to be his favorite? Now that Hollywood Arts has gone to Tori's head, it's like, I don't even exist anymore!_

_ This is not a suicide note, I have no intention of killing myself. Yet, what would it matter? Even Tori doesn't want me around. I'm just an expendable member of this family, so I'll make like the wind on a clear day and just disappear. Like the breeze, like the ocean waves, even they go away at some point of time…I don't need to say where I'm going to go from here, I'm not even sure, but I'm through being invisible._

_ Someone out there will give me a chance to be heard, a chance to be someone in their lives, a chance to be important again…I'd almost forgotten how it feels to be family again. Daddy, you're still my favorite, and I hope you rise high in the police force. You know, I wanted to join the police, I wanted to maybe one day work for you! I guess it won't happen, you'd probably wind up letting Tori work for you before you'd let me. Daddy's girl…it used to be me…_

_ Mom, don't cry, I'll be okay. I'm eighteen now, it's time for me to leave the nest anyway, right? Maybe Aunt Sonya will have a place for me. I don't know, I'm not really sure I want to go there. I just need some time to think. It isn't your fault. I can take a hint, though, and Tori's friends have given me plenty of those! I promise you I'll take care of myself._

_ Tori, I do hope you'll become a singer some day. I know it wasn't always your dream, not before that infernal school changed you. Changed _everything_. I love you baby sister, I always have. Don't mistake my envy for dislike, you'll always be my sister no matter what. I don't know if you feel that way, but you know yourself more than anyone else does. Become a success, Tori, become everything you want to be._

_ Until we see each other again…goodbye…_

Tears fell onto the paper, crumpling the letters and soaking through the book. Her fingers trembled on the final word as she set the journal down on the table. What was she doing? Was she seriously leaving? Maybe she'd come back, maybe not. She didn't want to trouble anyone. She didn't want her family to see that letter either. Thinking fast, she tore the page from her journal and folded it up. Now, all she had to do was change and leave, she had one place in mind where she really wanted to go.

Some time later, she was slowly leaving the house in a white, sleeveless shirt and red shorts. She had her running shoes on and a coat tied around her waist. It was almost midnight, and she usually went for midnight runs, so there wasn't anything suspicious about it. Her family would just assume she was out and would be back at some point of time during the night.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She turned around and ended up bumping into Jade. The two girls fell to the ground and Trina's letter flew from her hand and into Jade's purse. She rubbed her head and moaned. What just hit her? The girls rose up and she quickly met Jade's eyes, she was growing impatient and really wanted to leave. Not only that, but what the hell was Jade doing here? Shouldn't they be at that restaurant?

"I'm going for a jog, what are you doing? Shouldn't you and Tori be at that restaurant, getting hit on by random boys?" Jade snorted and slowly shook her head.

"That ended like twenty minutes ago. Tori and I were just hanging out."

"Oh. Well. You guys have fun?"

"I guess…" Jade's eyes trailed to the black backpack on her shoulder. Trina pulled the strap up and started moving away. "What's the backpack for? I thought you didn't go jogging with a pack?" Trina turned around and walked backwards, extending her arms to the side.

"I guess there's a first time for everything! Don't try to act like you give a damn. I have a bus to catch…" Jade rolled her eyes and turned to the door.

"Man Tori has a weird sister."

The words stabbed her, but she brushed them off and started jogging towards the nearest bus stop. She was going all the way to _Point Dume State Beach_ and she would remain there until she'd figured out what the hell she was going to do with her life. Where would she go? What would she do? Did it really matter? Whatever. It just wasn't important. She wiped her eyes and picked up her speed. At least she could say she was graced with being an athlete.

Tori woke early in the morning with a loud yawn, she hadn't seen Trina when she came in last night, so maybe she could tell her all about the prior night this morning. She flung her covers off, grinning brightly as she hopped from the bed. "Trina! I have a story to tell you!" She ran from her room and rushed into Trina's room. She took a pause and looked around, the room was completely empty with only the bedside lamp on. "Tri?" Her eyes drifted to the floor and she saw Snowflake in the middle of the floor. She gasped and put her hand to her chest, eyeing the dog with disbelief, Trina _never_ left Snowflake on the floor!

She reached for Snowflake, then hurried down the stairs, holding Snowflake high in the air. "Trina! You left Snow-" She stopped at the end of the stairs, hit by a very thick and heavy aura. Her heart constricted and butterflies started floating about in her stomach. Why did she feel so strange? Her mom and dad were standing on either side of the counter, David had full stubble and was hunched over the counter side closest to the refrigerator. Holly was on the other side, her hair a frizzled mess and backs under her eyes. They looked like they'd been up all night. "Mom? Dad? Where's Trina? Did she go to school already? She left Snowflake on the floor…"

Her parents looked at her, neither smiled. What was the problem? Holly through her hands into the air and moved over to the couch. David brought his coffee cup to his lips and let out a quiet breath of air. "Your sister never came home last night, Tori." Tori's eyes widened and her hand released the stuffed dog. Reflexively, she grabbed Snowflake's ear. She swallowed hard and took a step forward. What did David mean she never came home?

"Well where is she? Doesn't she know you have that thing planned for her today?" Her dad had been planning for months to take Trina to his Alma Mater, and today or tomorrow was the only opportunity he had to take her there. They had the best criminal justice program in the area! It was going to be his own surprise to her. "She wouldn't miss that, would she?"

"She doesn't know about it, hence 'secret', Tori. When she didn't come home last night, your mom and I took off on the streets, we've been searching for the past eight or nine hours. I've got the whole squad out looking for her. Did you happen to say anything to her last night?"

"No of course not, I didn't get to see her when I came in…I wanted to tell her about last night! Maybe she's at the school?" Holly looked up from the couch and turned her eyes to Tori. She lifted her hand and spoke with a raspy voice.

"If you see your sister, tell her to come home please. We've been calling her phone on and off…every five minutes…" Tori's heart sank and she stared at the phone on the coffee table. Holly's eyes moved to the phone and remained glued on it. "David…did our baby run away from home?" Did those words just leave her mother's mouth? Why would Trina leave home? Why could _possibly_ possess her to run away? This has _never_ happened before! If something was wrong, she would have said something, right? They _always_ shared stuff together, didn't they?

"She wouldn't run away from home, Mom. She _knows_ I need her around." Ever since she was a little girl, she always wanted Trina around. There were times when that girl became all she had to rely on One thing Tori had never been, that Trina was, was athletic. She couldn't run very far or fast, she couldn't play sports, she didn't know any martial arts, and quite frankly, she could _not_ swim. Strange as it was, she loved the beach, loved the water, but she stayed out of the water. It wasn't really the ocean that was the problem, she could deal with the shallow waters of the beach, but she would _not_ go into a pool. Much different than the ocean, in her mind.

When she was young, seven years old, she tried her hand at swimming. It was the neighbor's pool, some kid pushed her into the deep end without realizing she wasn't a good swimmer. When she attempted to surface, she wasn't even sure which way was up. She had taken a sharp breath of water and tried to scream, her fingers thrashed about in that pool. There wasn't even anything to hold onto. Her eyes had stung with the water, but the last thing she saw before she blacked out, was her older sister's blurred form swimming towards her.

She still had nightmares from that day, that's why Trina was always straight across the hall from her. Up until Hollywood Arts, she always needed Trina by her side. She still did, whether or not she said anything. Trina was _everything_ to her. Her approval, her love, her security, you name it and she needed it. She was the typical younger sibling who wanted to follow her older sibling everywhere they went. Without Trina, she'd be _lost!_

"I don't believe she ran away. She probably went to school. I'm going to hurry and see if I can catch her!" She ran upstairs, feeling her parents' gaze upon her. Was she being delusional? No. Was she in denial? She didn't think so. In order to be in denial, something bad had to happen, right? Nothing bad happened, Trina might have been missing an important exam or something! That was the only explanation. Trina _never_ left for school without saying something to Tori. So that _was_ a little strange of her, but okay, she could deal with that. No big. She pushed Snowflake into her backpack, unsure why exactly, other than the feeling that Trina was with her.

At the school, she had searched high and low for Trina. Her teachers said she never came in, students gave her a look of wonder, as if she were crazy to believe they cared where she was. Throughout the day, it seemed Jade was trying to get in touch with her, but her thoughts were so focused on Trina that she didn't have time to stop and chat, or even argue.

After school, she sat at the table in the outside patio, holding Snowflake in front of her and biting her lip. Her eyes quivered and misted as she came to the conclusion that Trina really _had_ run away. She wasn't answering her phone, her parents said they hadn't seen her _anywhere_. What if Trina was hurt? What if something bad happened to her and she needed help? That wasn't fair, _Tori_ was the one that needed her sister. Not the other way around. Why the hell would Trina just leave like this?

"Snowflake, where is your owner?" Had she seriously resorted to talking to a stuffed animal? "I want to talk to her, why is she avoiding us?"

"Tori?" She lifted her head and saw Jade watching her closely. "Please tell me you haven't taken to talking to puppets too…"

"I'm freaking out, Jade." She rose from her seat, brushing off the remark comparing her to Robbie. It wasn't enough that she really didn't like that puppet to begin with. "It's almost five o'clock and Trina's nowhere to be found!" Jade's eyebrows flushed together and she moved to the table, opening her mouth to say something, but Tori kept talking. "She's been gone since midnight and hasn't come back! Mom and Dad went searching all over the place for her last night, never slept, and even now…she's been missing for seventeen hours! I want my sister!" Her heart was racing and her hands were flying wildly in the air. Tears stung her and her stomach was now simply a pit.

Jade clicked her tongue and swept it across the top of her lower lip. This was likely her first time seeing Tori this bad off. "Wow…you really are freaking out…I mean seriously, it's _only Trina_. So she's been missing for most of the day, I'm sure she…nevermind…" Jade flicked her eyes towards her purse and Tori stared at her, wondering if she'd lost her marbles. Only Trina?

"H-How can you say that? Trina means _everything_ to me! She's my sister, I love her!"

"You have a funny way of showing it…" Jade's words stabbed her, painfully killing her heart. A chill swept down her body as she continued to stare at the girl with growing confusion. Jade, catching the look in her eye, leaned forward and clasped her hands together over the table. "Tori, you don't even act like you care. I can say that because I see how the others, myself included, can say all these negative things about her, and…you just sit there. You don't try to defend her. To anyone." Her eyes widened and her jaw fell. How could that be possible? "Have you _ever_ gone this long without her? I mean, the way you act, people think you _could_ go for a long time without-"

"I've never been without my sister…and I don't want to be…" She bowed her head and lifted her eyes upwards, still gazing at her sister's precious stuffed animal. Had all this attention really gotten the better of her? Before Hollywood Arts, she would _never_ let anyone say bad stuff about her sister. What changed? "If I had to lose everyone in this world, who would be the one person I wouldn't want to let go of?" It was a question Sikowitz asked the class to think about a few days ago, for some acting exercise. To think of what losing that person meant to them, to react accordingly. When she got on the stage, she froze, just staring off into space. She wasn't acting, Sikowitz pegged her on that, she was seriously imagining life without her sister.

"You didn't break down and cry on that stage, but your eyes held a lot of pain. You're really close to her…"

"More than you could ever know." She crossed her arms on the table and put her forehead upon them, sobbing silently. In a moment of hesitation, Jade reached over and gently pat her back. "I want Tri-Tri…"

"Hey girls," Robbie's voice echoed from behind. Tori didn't move, but Jade's head snapped up at him, glaring. "Hey Tori, how come you didn't participate in the acting assignment to-"

"Not now, Robbie!" Jade bellowed. Rex made some remark, which was quickly followed by another order for Robbie to leave. Tori brushed it all off. Today Sikowitz wanted them to portray gleeful swimmers in a backyard pool party. Tori's mind had flashed back to that painful memory once again, and she wanted so badly to run out and find Trina. To ask her to comfort her, to be held by her sister and told that it was okay, but she wasn't there. Even now, that flashback played upon her mind. "Tori, would it help if I told you…I saw Trina last night?"

"You did!" Tori's head flew up and she met Jade with great surprise. "Please, what did she say?"

"She was just going for a jog, but…she dropped this…" Tori watched as she reached into her purse and pulled out a folded slip of paper. As she grasped the paper, she opened it quickly, but carefully, so as not to tear it. When she read the words, her hand cupped over her mouth and tears started to fill her eyes. Her heart broke with every word. She _had_ run away.

"W-Where could she have gone?"

"I don't know, don't ask me." Tori looked helplessly to Jade, still she felt embarrassed that she was a sobbing wreck, but it couldn't be helped. She wiped her eyes and slowly breathed in, trying to relax her nerves. "Maybe she went somewhere to think, or somewhere that means a lot to her. I always go down to the park whenever I'm upset."

"Jade, I don't…" Then it hit her, the beach they went to growing up. Why would she go there? No, not why, _how_ would she go there? Anything was possible, given the will and the desire. She rose to her feet with a loud gasp and quickly grabbed Snowflake. "That's _it!_ Jade grab your key's, you're driving."

"What? Wait…_what?"_

"I have to find my sister, Jade! Fight me if you want, but I need to find her now." There was no backing down, she didn't have time to go all the way home. Besides, it was in the wrong direction. As for this instant, Jade was her only hope.

Trina breathed in and started coughing as sand swept into her throat. She opened her eyes and groaned softly as the sunlight stabbed her. She'd been laying in her secret little alcove on the beach all day. Every now and then she'd go out to swim. She'd already gone to eat at a nearby diner and stayed inside for some time, she didn't want to get horribly sunburned.

She'd been taking a nap on the warm sand, something she was greatly enjoying, although now it meant she had sand all in her clothes, her hair, and her shoes. There was no bath she could take. Her eyes drifted towards her phone and her lips fell into a frown, that thing had been going off nonstop all day. She'd been half tempted to through it in the ocean. Why shouldn't she? After all, it wasn't like she was in any mood to chat with anyone. Tempting as it was, because she did miss them all so badly. Did she really want to be a vagrant?

She curled her knees to her chest and looked around, she was surrounded by a rock formation that formed a small U around her. This was the end of the beach, the point that people saw when they looked at a map. To her left, just past the rocks was the bigger portion of the beach that ran along a straight line for _miles_. She and Tori used to walk that beach and would constantly question whether or not they could swim to the other side of the massive ocean. Granted, they knew better now.

It amazed her how resilient Tori had been after the pool incident several years ago. While it made her hate pools, she never stopped wanting to come here to the ocean. Of course, things changed. Should she have been so surprised? With a light scoff, she moved to her feet and slowly walked towards the ocean waters. The sand squished between her toes and the closer she moved to the ocean, the muddier the sand felt. She ran her hand through her sandy hair and smiled with pride. Here, she could be herself. She was Queen here, Queen of the Beach. May they never forget that when they engrave it on her tombstone one day. She loved the ocean, craved it, and for the first time in so long, she finally felt like she _belonged_.

"The one place where I always get the chance to just…be me…" Her stomach cramped inside of her and she slowly moved her hand over it. She was hungry, it had been several hours since she last ate. She skipped lunch, figuring only to go to the diner for breakfast and then dinner. She turned her head to the rocks and frowned, she wasn't in the mood to climb over them right now, though she could. She'd much rather just swim forever.

She turned her head towards the water and continued walking. The cool ocean waves splashed onto her legs, tickling her. Lady of the Sea, they would call her. Woman of the Ocean. As the water continued to rise with each step, she closed her eyes and sighed with joy.

It would be getting dark in a couple hours, then she wouldn't be able to stay in the water for very long. She took another step, then finally she was floating with the water at her neck. Her hair absorbed the waves that came to join her. She felt like the mermaids of her childhood fantasies with Tori. "Just a couple mermaid princesses, watching over their beautiful ocean…"

She closed her eyes and let her body float to the surface. _Waves carry me, take me with you wherever you wish. Just don't let this moment end_. If the ocean wanted to swallow her, that was fine, they could claim their mermaid and take her to the enchanted city of Atlantis. If only, if only, childhood dreams could be true.

"Trina!" A shrill cry ran through her ears, but she didn't want to hear. She thought for sure she was just dreaming. As she opened her eyes, she saw the sun had hidden behind the clouds. How far from shore had she floated? "Oh my god, please don't be…Trina!" Suddenly she heard a loud splash, someone had just dove into the ocean, and that someone had better not have been Tori!

She slowly straightened herself in the water and looked around, her feet were moving quickly to keep her afloat. She turned towards the shore and frowned, the waves had moved her several feet away, almost the length of an Olympic pool. When she looked ahead, she saw her sister's head bobbing in and out of the water, she was moving fast, but not fast enough to stay afloat! "Tori? Tori! What are you doing!"

She launched herself forward, thinking only of making sure her sister didn't do something stupid and nearly drown trying to save her. Tori kept swimming, though. It was beautiful just watching her sister's arms flying through the water in front of her and her feet kicking behind, that burst of adrenaline was keeping her up without any problem.

The two met halfway and Trina quickly put her arms around Tori's waist. Tori met her eyes and threw her arms around her neck. "Trina, why would you run away like that?" Tori began looking around and gasped, realizing where she was. She immediately started to sink, in which case, Trina strengthened her hold on to her sister and started swimming towards the shore.

She was not happy at all with any of this. "What are you doing here?" She asked once they reached the shore. "I only brought one towel, so go ahead and dry yourself off." She pulled her towel from her pack and handed it over to Tori, who immediately started drying off.

"You dropped your note…it fell into Jade's purse…" Trina's eyes widened and her heart froze, panic shot through her for a split second. So Tori had seen the note? "Everyone's worried about you. Dad, Mom, _me_…Jade said something about maybe going to where you were comforted and, well, this was the only place I could think of that you might have come to…"

Well that made sense. There was no denying that. She inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled, trying her best to remain calm. "Why did you bother coming here, Tori?" Not only that, _how_ did she get here? Maybe someone drove her, probably Jade.

"Because I _needed_ you and you weren't there." She scoffed and turned to face the ocean. Tori turned her gaze to the ocean waters and slowly closed her hands. "I saw you floating and I thought maybe you'd drowned…I didn't want to lose you. You're the most important person in my life."

"There's a shock." She didn't mean to sound cruel or heatless, she didn't mean to sound bitter, she just had no way of truly telling Tori that she just didn't believe she cared anymore. "You remember how we used to come out here every month? You and I made a promise…do you remember what that was?"

"Promise? I…" Tori slowly bowed her head and looked out towards the ocean. The air filled with a deafening silence, broken only by the seagulls and the waves crashing against the shore. It was a sound that soothed the both of them, deep within. "Like Mermaids, belonging to the sea, right? That game we used to play…as for the promise…to never stop coming here. Of course I remember."

"Then why did we stop? Ever since you went to Hollywood Arts, your friends came first. You wanted to hang with them, so eventually mom and dad stopped asking if we wanted to take a weekend trip down here for the month. That damned school went to your head…"

"I'm sorry Trina, you have to believe me!" Tori stepped in front of her and gazed into her eyes with great guilt and sorrow. "Nothing can come in between sisters. I know that. I love you, you're my sister, and I need you. Mom and Dad need you. Daddy was planning a surprise for you, he wanted to take you to his Alma Mater either today or tomorrow." Trina's lips parted for a second and her heart slowly lifted upwards. "Even while on my way here, I called my friends and told them I wasn't going to let them say anything bad about you. You're my _sister_ and you always come first. Just please…come home, I need you…more than you know…"

As she fought the urge to give in, she couldn't help but to be pulled into her sister's gaze. Trina's eyes were so full of sadness and hope, so full of sincerity. "You'd be fine without me."

"No, I wouldn't! Even Jade pointed out, you weren't gone for longer than just _ten _hours and I was already freaking. Mostly because I was having flashbacks and I needed to talk to you, but you weren't around."

"Sorry."

"Trina, just…please…I _need_ you." Those words, they pulled her in, tempting her. She knew her sister was being honest, but she still needed to know that Tori knew her conditions. Tori slowly moved her arms around her waist and brought her head to her chest.

"You won't go back on the things you say? You won't get a big head?"

"I _promise_, and I _mean_ it!" Tori lifted her eyes to Trina's and sniffed. "I told Dad while we were over here, I told him that we needed to start coming here again. I won't let my friends get in the way, and if I do, you need to remind me…okay? Tell me you'll remind me?"

"Oh yeah, I'll _definitely_ be reminding you."

"We're sisters, we're closer than anyone. In fact, we're more than just sisters, we're…" Tori chuckled and looked back at the water. Trina raised an eyebrow and recalled the faint childhood memory. She closed her eyes and smiled as she hugged her sister close.

"That is such a _cheesy_ line, Tori, and you know it. Not only cheesy, it's childish and-"

"You _know_ you want to say it!" Tori was right, she did want to say it. Thankfully no one else was around, but it really didn't matter. She lifted her eyes to the now orange sky, littered with pinkish clouds. The wind blew through her hair and breezed against her face while sand particles seemed to swirl around their ankles. "Say it. What are we?"

"…Mermaid sisters…there is no bond stronger than water and blood."

"Exactly." She smiled and continued to gaze out at the waters while Tori put her head upon her shoulder. Had Tori really been so fearful today? Why? "By the way Tri...you left Snowflake on the floor this morning."

"I did?"

"Yes. Snowflake is in the car, and as silly as it sounds, I'm going to say this…thank God Jade's not here to hear...but Snowflake's waiting for an apology from you for leaving her." Snowflake was? Or was it her adorable baby sister? Her heart swelled in her chest and her voice lowered to a soft whisper.

"I won't run away again, Tori. I promise, just…try not to forget about me. You know?"

"I know." She hugged Trina closer and smiled as she gazed out at the open sea. "So comforting, I almost forgot how much I loved it out here…"

"Me too. Me too…"

"I think we could stay out here, just a little longer?"

"That would be perfect."

Things were looking up now, it wasn't hard to see. Though, the world could pause for her and her sister, while they just enjoyed the comfort of the ocean. This was where they wanted to be, this was where they would always be. Until their dying breath, their bond would never break and their home would always be at the ocean, right where they belonged.

* * *

><p>I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this oneshot. I wanted it to end on a good note like this, though I also had an alternate way in mind, a more tragic ending, but I decided (with the help of my good friend Christina) to go with the good ending. Please let me know what you thought ^_^. Also, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read this<p> 


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